Lucy and I had a wonderful time in the Bernese Oberland, living above 2000M for nearly a week.... but sadly - the weather thwarted our attempt on the top of the Finsteraarhorn... some 300M from the peak at 4273M.

There were storms when we arrived in Kleine Scheidegg which delayed the start of our trip to the Konkordiaplatz hut (2850M), perched 100M above the (sadly shrinking) Aletsch glacier, and then to the Finsterarhornhutte (3048M) which was our home - as it turned out - for three nights: the weather forecast suggested a delay for a day would be sensible, so we climbed the Wyssnollen (3590M) the other side of the Fieschergletscher glacier - and had a wonderful ski down in sunshine and soft powder.

The next day, getting up at 4.40 am, we started climbing an hour later on a path kindly staked out by our splendid and long standing Bergfuehrer Dres Abegglen, and reached the Fruehstueckplatzridge crossing at 3616M two and half hours later, already quite cold from the -15 C wind gusting up to 50km an hour, and had our second breakfast. Climbing the main south westerly face of the mountain the -30 C windchill started to have a real impact, and Dres started to see frostbite on both Lucy's and my face - the puzzle with frostbite is that the sufferer does not notice its effect until real damage is done. So sadly, with the final ridge and peak in sight, we had to turn back an hour and a half later.

Mountains are hard taskmasters - and one can move from being in a stunning beautiful to a deadly place in short order. So disappointed not to have made it , but it remains a privilege to spend time in the high places, and mildly encouraging that we can still climb.

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In early April, Lucy and Richard Wylde will be attempting to climb, on skins and then on foot, the Finsteraarhorn, at 4273.9m, the highest mountain in the Bernese Oberland.

The attempt, which could easily be thwarted by bad weather, accidents, illness and the altitude, will take us 3 days: two days to practice, acclimatise and get to the Swiss Alpine Club's Finsteraarhornhütte at 3048m.

If past experience is any pointer, our Bergfuhrer guide, Dres Abegglen, will have us climbing at 3am on the third morning to start the ascent while the bridges over the crevasses are frozen over.

We are trying to do this before we get too old for this sort of caper...we will be 65 this year.... but hope it would be a good way to raise funds for the Innholders Charitable Foundation, which is doing sterlingwork in supporting the Hospitality Industry, which has such a tough time in the last few years.

Any contributions/sponsorship , say by the 100 metre from the hut (3048m) would be most appreciated, and encourage us to move forward when the air has got rather too thin.

Richard & Lucy Wylde